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Czinger 21C VMax Review: The Hypercar Pushed to the Extreme For years, the automotive world has been buzzing about Czinger, the Southern California startup with a vision so bold it borders on engineering insanity. Now, after years of anticipation and development, the 21C VMax has arrived, and it represents not just a car, but a paradigm shift. This isn’t just another supercar; it’s a glimpse into the future of automotive manufacturing, blended with a sheer, unadulterated dose of lunacy that only a company like Czinger could conceive. Having had the opportunity to experience the 21C VMax firsthand on a grueling three-day road rally, I can attest that this machine defies description. While there’s undoubtedly a track story to tell—and more on that later—the true revelation lies in understanding what a seven-figure, 1,250-horsepower, 3D-printed hypercar is like when pushed to the absolute limits on a 500-mile trek. The journey with the Czinger 21C VMax through Northern California’s wine country was an experience that borders on the surreal, pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible in a road-legal vehicle. Factory Fresh: A Glimpse Inside the Future My journey began at the Czinger factory, a place that feels less like a traditional automotive assembly line and more like a high-tech laboratory. Walking through the facility, it quickly becomes apparent that Czinger is just different. The parent company, Divergent Technologies, utilizes iterative artificial intelligence and massive 3D printers to design and produce incredibly lightweight yet strong mechanical components. The experience was akin to stepping into the future; a peek inside one of the massive 3D printers revealed lasers fusing powdered aluminum into components that resembled delicate bird bones. It is a wild and unforgettable sight. During my visit, Lukas Czinger, the young CEO of both Divergent Technologies and Czinger, explained the company’s philosophy. They operate at the “Pareto optimal”—the point after which any gram added or subtracted becomes a net negative for performance. For example, when engineering a part like a rear suspension damper reservoir mount, the software iterates through hundreds of thousands of designs to find the lightest, strongest shape possible within the given constraints. It’s a process that feels like evolution on fast-forward. Beyond the Department of Defense, nine automotive OEMs currently use Divergent as a supplier for 3D-printed parts. Aston Martin, Bugatti, and McLaren are the only three companies that publicly admit to this partnership, though it’s safe to say that the Ferrari F80’s control arms are also among the many automotive giants utilizing Divergent’s revolutionary technology. Under the Carbon Fiber: A Masterpiece of Engineering Czinger builds two distinct versions of what is essentially the same car. The high-downforce, track-focused 21C (named after the 21st century) and the wingless, long-tailed VMax. Technically, the latter is the 21C VMax, though the 21C designation appears nowhere on the car itself. For the inaugural Velocity Tour, a 500-mile road rally through Central and Northern California’s wine country, I had the privilege of piloting a silver VMax. The term “piloting” is used deliberately. The cabin feels much more like a jet fighter canopy than a traditional car interior. Czinger itself claims the experience is akin to being in a jet fighter, and I can certainly see why. While I may not have flown a fighter jet, I have experienced the inside of an Extra 330LT stunt plane, and the similarity is striking. There is glass less than a foot away from both sides of your head, offering unparalleled visibility. The process of getting in and out of the car is, well, ridiculous: You sit with your legs facing out on the massive sill, pull your knees up, pivot on your backside as you tuck your feet into the footwell, and then maneuver your head under the roof. One reason the sills are so substantial is the presence of batteries. The 21C VMax is a hybrid hypercar, with each sill housing 2.2 kWh of battery power, totaling 4.4 kWh. The car is not a plug-in hybrid, but a motor powered by the mid-mounted V-8 engine keeps the battery pack topped up. These batteries can deliver 500 horsepower to the front axle, which features one motor per wheel. The combustion engine is a Czinger-designed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-8, capable of producing 750 horsepower on California’s 91-octane premium unleaded fuel. For those seeking maximum power, dumping 100-octane race fuel into the tank boosts horsepower to 850. The small but mighty engine can also run on ethanol and generate even more power, though Czinger has not yet released those specific figures. However, we predict a gain of approximately 10 percent when using ethanol. The gas engine drives the rear wheels via an Xtrac single-clutch automated sequential gearbox. This is similar to the Xtrac seven-speed gearbox used in Pagani’s Utopia, but Czinger not only 3D prints the transmission case but also employs small 48-volt electric motors to execute shifts more smoothly at lower speeds. This eliminates the drunken surge that plagues all other automated single-clutch transmissions at low speeds. The twin-barrel actuators perform as advertised in low-speed scenarios, which I was thankful to discover firsthand. Navigating gas stations, restaurants, and hotel parking lots felt almost normal. Seriously, Czinger deserves applause for this innovation. Track Time: A Full-Throttle Adrenaline Rush What never felt normal was the man sitting behind me for the entire day. As is standard practice with some high-dollar hypercars, such as Bugatti and Pagani, Czinger placed a professional driver, Evan Jacobs, in the car with me to ensure I didn’t drive the $2,500,000 machine off a cliff. Thankfully, later that evening, Jacobs assured the Czinger team that I was not a threat to the car and was able to drive solo for the remainder of the rally. We stopped by Laguna Seca for a few parade laps, but for whatever reason, non-Czinger employees are not permitted to drive the VMax on racetracks, even at the brutally slow pace required for the rally participants. As I have learned the hard way, even if you cannot drive, you can still go for the ride. I scrambled into the bizarre rear seat, and the first thing to note is that if you have large calves or feet, the rear-seat experience is not ideal. My XXL calves were wedged between the carbon-fiber tub and the carbon-fiber seat, and my feet didn’t fit comfortably either. However, the visibility through the side glass is incredible. Again, it reminded me of a stunt plane and provided a remarkably novel way to experience riding around a track—something I have done more than 1,000 times in my career. This was especially true when Jacobs and I convinced the Skip Barber Racing School staff (whose track day we had crashed) to let him take the VMax for a couple of “6/10ths” hot laps. The most impressive hot lap I have ever experienced was riding shotgun in an Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH race car, during which I could feel blood pooling in my extremities under hard braking. The Czinger 21C VMax is now a very close second, and remember, Jacobs was not pushing the car to its absolute limit. Even at a pace well below the red line and without the massive downforce of the rear wing, it was easy to understand how the 21C pulled off what the brand calls the California Gold Rush. That nickname refers to the car’s feat of setting five production car track records in five days at five different tracks: Thunder Hill, Sonoma Raceway, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and the Thermal Club, while driving from each track to the next. Later, Czinger returned to Laguna Seca to not only beat its own record but to reclaim the throne from the track-special Koenigsegg Jesko Sadair’s Spear. That lap time, a ridiculous 1 minute and 22.30 seconds, is faster than the fastest MotoAmerica Superbike lap ever recorded at Laguna, which stands at 1 minute and 22.56 seconds. Czinger claims a vehicle weight of approximately 3,600 pounds, which is remarkably light for a 1,250-horsepower hybrid. To put this in perspective, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale Asseto Fiorano—the highest-performance version of a three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 PHEV with a modest 986 horsepower—weighs 3,839 pounds. The new Lamborghini Temerario is another three-motor, twin-turbo V-8 (which produces less power than the Czinger, but provides a good comparison) that weighs in at a substantial 4,185 pounds. Now is a good time to mention that the SF90 and Temerario are the two quickest-accelerating gasoline-powered cars MotorTrend has ever tested (the Ferrari for 0–60 mph and the Lambo for the quarter mile). If Czinger’s weight claim proves accurate, this unorthodox Southern California startup has managed to outperform two Italian legends right out of the gate. That achievement alone is remarkable, especially considering that while Southern California is known for many things, there isn’t a huge pool of supercar-building expertise to draw